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Stalemate!: Great Trench Warfare Battles
Rigel Publications 2004
223 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1995
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About the author
J.H. Johnson
12 books1 followerLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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April 22, 2020
Very good book, extremely well researched, with expert analysis. It was written roughly 80 years after the Great War began, and seems to use a healthy amount of resources.
This book focuses on Britain's involvement in World War I, specifically six major offensives between 1915 and 1917 that accounted for 60% of all of its war casualties: Neuve Chapelle, Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), and Cambrai. His overall thesis explores one basic question: why were the British unable to "break through" the German lines in these six offensives? The book begins with an overview chapter of how the Great War began, the short-lived "war of movement", then how it ground to a halt with trench warfare. The next set of chapters cover the six offensives listed above, each getting its own chapter. The eighth chapter briefly sums up Germany's 1918 Offensive which got the war mobilized once again, for the first time since 1914, and discusses the end of the war. The final chapter is a "retrospect" where the author summarizes his overall findings of Britain's inability to break through the German lines, restart a mobilized war, or deal a final one-shot blow to the German war machine. That in the end, it came down to a war of attrition, a wearing down of the enemy, its resources, men, and morale; and that really, the Germans did it quicker to itself with its own 1918 Offensive in the end. Each of the six chapters reviewing the offensives is laid out fairly consistently. It usually begins by setting the lay-out of the land for you and by describing what political or military motive led to the battle taking place in that spot. The author then goes over the planned objectives of the offensive, what the military hoped they would be able to achieve. From there, he lines out exactly what took place in the subsequent battles - which division, of which corps, did what, where and when. After the explanation of the battles and the offensive's conclusion, the author then analyzes why or how the objectives were met or not met, and why they were unable to ultimately make a break through.
A little note: Keep in mind that this does not cover all of the Great War, nor does it do a complete overview of the war, just those six specific offensives on the Western Front. Initially, based on the jacket cover information, I thought this book was going to be different, more of an overview of the war as a whole, and the everyday conditions that the soldiers had to live through. This was not the case, and when you read the preface, it makes its thesis abundantly clear as to what the book is going to be about. I was fine with that, but that is not what you are led to believe based on the summary on the book cover (at least on my edition). My copy is entitled Stalemate!: The Real Story of Trench Warfare. It looks like it went through different editions and had a slight name change to include "Great Trench Warfare Battles." That right there would have been more helpful to me just picking up this book. So yeah, a little surprise for me once I read the preface. But, I was good with that. The thesis sounded very interesting to me, and though it wasn't what I expected, I ended up wanting to read it more based on his thesis.
As good as it is, I would say that this book is more for someone who already has knowledge on the Great War. I enjoyed it because I've already done quite a bit of studying on the subject. I don't think this would be enjoyable for someone that is a novice. The battles that I already knew more about (like the Somme, Passchendaele, and Cambrai) I felt like I got more out of because the author is really technical when discussing the actions happening during the battle. Since I was already familiarized with those offensives' layout, I felt like I understood it better. The battles that I was not as familiar with, I found myself sometimes getting bogged down in the specifics of which division did what where. However, the explanation of why the battle was taking place, what objectives they wanted to achieve, and especially the ending analysis of the offensive was excellent in each chapter. I felt like those parts were better laid out and explained for people that were unfamiliar with the subjects. I personally enjoy learning specifics of which group did what and where, so I liked it. Yet, I know friends of mine that would hate having to read something that technical. So, just a warning if you're one of those people.
This book focuses on Britain's involvement in World War I, specifically six major offensives between 1915 and 1917 that accounted for 60% of all of its war casualties: Neuve Chapelle, Loos, the Somme, Arras, Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres), and Cambrai. His overall thesis explores one basic question: why were the British unable to "break through" the German lines in these six offensives? The book begins with an overview chapter of how the Great War began, the short-lived "war of movement", then how it ground to a halt with trench warfare. The next set of chapters cover the six offensives listed above, each getting its own chapter. The eighth chapter briefly sums up Germany's 1918 Offensive which got the war mobilized once again, for the first time since 1914, and discusses the end of the war. The final chapter is a "retrospect" where the author summarizes his overall findings of Britain's inability to break through the German lines, restart a mobilized war, or deal a final one-shot blow to the German war machine. That in the end, it came down to a war of attrition, a wearing down of the enemy, its resources, men, and morale; and that really, the Germans did it quicker to itself with its own 1918 Offensive in the end. Each of the six chapters reviewing the offensives is laid out fairly consistently. It usually begins by setting the lay-out of the land for you and by describing what political or military motive led to the battle taking place in that spot. The author then goes over the planned objectives of the offensive, what the military hoped they would be able to achieve. From there, he lines out exactly what took place in the subsequent battles - which division, of which corps, did what, where and when. After the explanation of the battles and the offensive's conclusion, the author then analyzes why or how the objectives were met or not met, and why they were unable to ultimately make a break through.
A little note: Keep in mind that this does not cover all of the Great War, nor does it do a complete overview of the war, just those six specific offensives on the Western Front. Initially, based on the jacket cover information, I thought this book was going to be different, more of an overview of the war as a whole, and the everyday conditions that the soldiers had to live through. This was not the case, and when you read the preface, it makes its thesis abundantly clear as to what the book is going to be about. I was fine with that, but that is not what you are led to believe based on the summary on the book cover (at least on my edition). My copy is entitled Stalemate!: The Real Story of Trench Warfare. It looks like it went through different editions and had a slight name change to include "Great Trench Warfare Battles." That right there would have been more helpful to me just picking up this book. So yeah, a little surprise for me once I read the preface. But, I was good with that. The thesis sounded very interesting to me, and though it wasn't what I expected, I ended up wanting to read it more based on his thesis.
As good as it is, I would say that this book is more for someone who already has knowledge on the Great War. I enjoyed it because I've already done quite a bit of studying on the subject. I don't think this would be enjoyable for someone that is a novice. The battles that I already knew more about (like the Somme, Passchendaele, and Cambrai) I felt like I got more out of because the author is really technical when discussing the actions happening during the battle. Since I was already familiarized with those offensives' layout, I felt like I understood it better. The battles that I was not as familiar with, I found myself sometimes getting bogged down in the specifics of which division did what where. However, the explanation of why the battle was taking place, what objectives they wanted to achieve, and especially the ending analysis of the offensive was excellent in each chapter. I felt like those parts were better laid out and explained for people that were unfamiliar with the subjects. I personally enjoy learning specifics of which group did what and where, so I liked it. Yet, I know friends of mine that would hate having to read something that technical. So, just a warning if you're one of those people.
Displaying 1 of 1 review